


The Promise of a Tin Man

by Eishexe



Category: Tin Man (2007)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-08-24
Updated: 2012-08-24
Packaged: 2017-11-12 18:31:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 5,174
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/494337
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eishexe/pseuds/Eishexe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How far will a Tin Man go to keep his promise?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. When Life Is Anything But Kind

**Author's Note:**

> Disclaimer : Of course i dont own Tin Man. If I did there have been another mini series! Even if i had to make it myself! lol.  
> 

Tin Man. I had been one for so long, I couldn't actually remember not being a anything else. Being a Tin Man had been my life's ambition. Even after my family had been ripped from me, for my unyielding refusal to bow to a tyrant, I was still a Tin Man. Not even being locked away for 15 annuals could break me of my need to wear the symbol of Central City's peacekeepers. It was the only constant I had ever known. When my parents passed on being a Tin Man was all I had in the world. When Adora and Jeb were taken from me, I had only my will as a Tin Man to thank for not succumbing to the insanity. And now, again I found myself leaning heavily upon my badge. Being a Tin Man was all I was, through and through. People came and went in my life like shadows but my badge had stayed with me. I gritted my teeth, sometimes I truly hated just how much I needed my job to survive.

The greatest man I had ever had the joy to know had made me promise on my word as a Tin Man to never leave her side. To protect her from anything and everything that could or would bring her harm. And I had, I had kept my promise. She was safe now behind the thick walls of the Ice Palace, with her family. The realization that she might truly no longer needed me was more devastating that it should have been. Why did I care so much about her safety? Why was I stalling to leave? Truth be told I knew exactly why I wasn't leaving. But what right did I have to even entertain the thought? I was old, broken, the left overs from another life. She was young with a full life ahead of her. I wished I could punch myself squarely in the jaw, knock sense into myself.

I did not want to leave, but after burying my son what else was left for me here? Nothing but memories and a hell of a lot of baggage. A parent should never have to carry the burden of out living a child, let alone having to carry that burden twice. .

I felt my hands ball up into fists, as I watched them from the recesses of the palace gates. DG and Glitch had wandered out towards the lake after lunch, DG keeping him from the water's edge and running after him when he took off unexpectedly. The Princess never let the headcase out of her sight for more than a few seconds. The last time Glitch had unwittingly slipped her watchful eye he had nearly drowned, apparently he had forgotten how to swim. It was me that had to jump in and save the zipperhead, much to my annoyance. DG had been frantic, when I had pulled the two of us from the freezing water. It was all her sister could do to keep her at bay while I attempted to pump the water from Glitch's lungs. I had made the mistake of looking into the DG's face as I pounded on the headcase's chest. If my heart could have contracted I think it would have. She was completely terrified; I knew it would completely destroy her to loose him. Somewhere in the back of my mind it clicked, she could never love me because whether she knew it or not the stupid headcase had stolen her heart. I had almost given up when Glitch sat straight up spewing water and spit directly into my face. It was the last time that DG had really acknowledged me. Not that I had given her a true chance to do so since the incident. There was more than one way to protect a princess and it did not always require being in plain sight.

The off beat click tick click tick of my heart of tin reminded me that I shouldn't care. The last of what humanity I had left when DG and Glitch freed me from the tin maiden had died with my son. I was as heartless as the Tin Man whose name I carried on my badge. The scar was all that visibly remianed from that day. The last day I had heard my son laugh, seen him smile that sideways grin that would spread across his face. I felt my mind slipping back though I fought it with every fiber of my being.

_"Two little princess dancing in a row. Spinning fast and freely on their little toes…" DG's voice floated softly through the open door of Glitch's quarters._

_It was a quiet night, perhaps a bit too quiet for my taste. I was standing outside the headcase's room waiting for DG to emerge. She and I both had woken to his screaming. Another bad dream, a side effect of his surgery. Which of course was a complete failure. His mind had been returned to him, but completely wiped of any trace of Ambrose. He still glitched and still had a hard time remembering things. I felt sorry for the zipperhead. To me it seemed his only gain was the nightmares that haunted him, on a very regular basis. I hadn't had a goodnight's sleep in weeks, and I knew DG hadn't either._

_She never complained though. I think ever since Raw had shown us Glitch's last moments as his old self she felt responsible for him. Like it was her fault the witch had removed his brain. I stifled a yawn, as DG tip toed out to join me, shutting the door with skilled silence._

_"He's sleeping now, I gave him some of that potion of mother's. He should sleep through anything now.." She offered, tiredly heading off to bed. I followed her, making sure she found her way safely back to her room. I watched her collapse into her bed and pull the covers up around her. I had no doubt she was unconscious before her head hit the pillow. I moved on to my room across the hall and fell stiffly into an arm chair by the fireplace. I'm not sure how long I had been sitting there or at what point I had fallen asleep; but the sound of gun fire and the high pitch scream that seemed to rip through me had me darting for my gun. I ran from my room checking on DG she was gone, and my blood ran cold._

_"Azcadee, DG RUN!" Jeb's commanding voice carried from the other end of the hall. I moved faster than I thought an old man like me should be capable of. Bursting into the Azcadelia's room I assessed quickly, nailing the Longcoat in the back of the head, that struggling to hold DG in check. The sister's were separated by at least four black coats. There was no way for them to work their protection magic. Jeb was injured, I assumed from the gun shot I had heard previously. Despite his apparent weakness he kept Azcadelia behind him no matter which way the Longcoats came at them. I took down three of them easily. The element of surprise still my tool, but I wasn't the only one using it._

_"DG LOOK OUT!" her sister screamed. I only had seconds to react. A fifth Longcoat had emerged from the window his gun squarely leveled at DG's head. I threw myself at her no time to take aim myself. I felt a jolt in my back and searing pain flowing through me like wild fire. I barely remember someone snatching my gun from my loosened grip and three shots rang out in near succession, before all the world went black and still._

There was no logical explanation for my survival. I should have died that night, just like Jeb, but I hadn't. I had been kept alive by some contraption glitch had suddenly remembered he had built and was still stored in the far corner of his old lab. In the time the machine provided him, Glitch had created a replacement for the heart that had quite literally exploded in my chest.

 _Click tick. Click tick._ I rubbed my chest, feeling the echo's of pain I had gone through for this fake organ to work. I clenched my teeth, if I hadn't fallen asleep maybe I could have saved all of them. Jeb would still be here, not have bled out like a horse put down for a broken leg. But the sisters had only enough time to keep one of us from death's door, and in the end it had been me.

Somewhere in the distance I heard DG laughing and something lit up inside me but died just as quickly when I remembered it wasn't me she was laughing with. There was not much left for me here, or anywhere in the O.Z. for that matter. It had been made abundantly clear to me that DG was safe, that she didn't need me to protect her anymore. The problem was it had been the Queen that released me from my duty, and she was not the one to whom I'd sworn my vow. It was a man that was dead, someone that could never release anyone ever again. So I stayed keeping a watchful eye on the youngest Princess of the O.Z., not for honor, not for myself, but because I had made a promise and Tin Men always keep their promises.


	2. Because He Followed Her

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How far will a princess go to see the truth.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer : Of course i dont own Tin Man. If I did there have been another mini series! Even if i had to make it myself! lol.  
> 

It had been three weeks since I had let Glitch out of my sight, which had nearly result in his death. The nightmares had slowed down, for the both of us, and I took solace in the fact he never remembered having them in the morning. It was hard to explain my need to take care of him. I felt responsible for him. It was no secret that Glitch needed someone to watch over him, especially since his brain surgery had been a complete failure. It had hurt more than I thought it would when he woke up afterward, still glitching and forgetting things nearly as soon as he said them. The only comfort was that he recognized me the moment he lay eyes upon me, just like the first day we had met. The doctors were unable to explain it. Mother said it was because Glitch had been so faithful as Ambrose. That though his mind was empty now, his soul still carried the memories. And to a degree I believed her. There were moments when I would catch him staring off into nothing, his eyes sparkling like fire works; and I knew, even for just that one moment, he remembered everything that mattered.

"DG I caught one! I caught one!" Glitch cried cheerfully, rushing to me to show me his prize. I had been teaching him the fine art of capturing fire flies. It had seemed like such a small skill, but to Glitch it was a huge accomplishment. I had to keep reminding myself I was dealing with a ten year old and would for the rest of his life. Never remembering more than a few minutes into the past and then like magic it would disappear, to be rediscovered all over again later. I smiled warmly at him as he added his catch to the jar beside me. He'd caught at least twenty but each time he turned to run after another I set the creature free. There was no need to have him get upset when he realized he'd forgotten about the previously caught bug.

"That's great Glitch!" I beamed for the twentieth time, "Go find another, pretty soon we'll have enough to light up Mother's garden!"

He smiled back running off, and I giggled quietly at his childishness. I needed Glitch to remind me that even through all the drabble and boring responsibilities of a princess, that I could still find happiness in the little things.

"I wonder if Cain knows how to catch fire flies." Glitch thought aloud, lunging for a speck of light but coming up empty handed.

Cain. My smile faltered and I looked down at my lap subconsciously. I knew he was still here in the palace somewhere but I hadn't exactly laid eyes on him. He had been like a ghost, just when I thought I caught sight of him from the corner of my eye, I would turn and he would be gone. I sighed, running my finger through my hair. He had spoken little since Jeb died, and been seen even less since he had saved my precious Glitch from the lake.

Cain, my own personal cowboy, I had told him so once. The only problem was the more I tried to explain what a cow was the more I couldn't stop laughing. His face was just too priceless, stuck somewhere between absolute horror and confusion. I found myself smiling a little, eyes flickering upwards making sure Glitch had not wandered to far away. He hadn't, and I giggled again. He was spinning in circles after his prey which had still eluded him. _Sometimes kids say the darnedest things._ I can't remember where I heard that, but Glitch fit it perfectly. I pondered if he even knew what he said half the time especially when he would forget what he was saying half way through saying it. I sighed, picking up the empty jar and pulling myself out of the soft grass.

"Come on Glitch, it's time to go!" I called.

"Go? Go where?" he asked hurrying over to me. "Are we going on an adventure? Because I think that would grand, we could even take Cain with us. Old sour puss he is, he never laughs anymore. Do you think we could? Do you think we could? Do you think we.."

"No, I don't think Cain is much interested in us anymore Glitch. I've caused him enough pain…" I trailed off not sure where I was headed.

"Pain? " Another voice washed over me as we neared the castle gates. I felt warmth and peacefulness fill me up like a hot cup of coffee. Raw. "DG no cause pain. DG cause happiness, bring family back together, save sister."

"I didn't save everyone." I interjected, giving Glitch his empty jar and wordlessly sending him off to the kitchen. Nanny Beata would watch him for me, she enjoyed the company while she cooked.

"The one person that meant the world to him and I couldn't save him." I continued, satisfied Glitch wouldn't overhear the conversation. It wasn't something I wanted him remembering even for a second. The anger and sadness swelled in me without Glitch here to keep it in check. "How could he forgive me for that?"

"That not DG's fault." Raw stated. "Longcoats take Jeb away, not DG. Jeb save Azcadelia, Cain save DG. That mean something, yes?"

"All it means is he kept his promise to the Mystic Man." I spat. "It was never about me Raw. The only reason Cain stayed and helped us was because he had given his word too. He's free to go where he wants when he wants now. He's not bound to babysit me and good riddance it's not like I need him."

"That not what Raw meant, DG know that." Raw shot back, sitting down on the stairs in the grand hall. I joined him falling unceremoniously onto the marble steps.

"I just I don't know Raw. It's like I'm poison now, like if he gets to close to me…" I nearly choked. "You know he won't even let me look at him properly anymore? I see him, or at least I think I see him out of the corner of my eye and then when I turn to look he's gone. Almost as if he doesn't want me knowing he's there. If he hates me that mu…"

"Now you listen. Cain no hate DG. Cain hurting, Cain lost but Cain no hate DG." Raw snapped taking my hands in his. "Cain follow DG all over O.Z.. even before Mystic Man made Cain promise; maybe time DG follow Cain?"

"Be a friend to him like he was to me, you mean?" I asked, taking the punch Raw hadn't meant. I had spent my waking hours trying not to let myself remember but since the witch I had become quite good at failure.

_I couldn't have been asleep long; maybe an hour or so when I'd woken, completely alert. I grumbled to myself getting out of bed. There was no use fighting it, once I was awake it was game over. It was still dark outside, and painfully peaceful. I soon remembered I had dropped into bed fully clothed and took off into the hallway. There was no one, the hall was completely empty. I pitter pattered my way towards my sister's room, the light spilling out from the open door inviting me in. I found her soon enough sitting by the fire place with Jeb. They were talking quietly watching the small fire flicker and dance. Jeb turned abruptly but his lop sided grin spread across his face._

_"Heya there Princess." He greeted._

_"What did I say about calling me that." I mumbled, taking up space on the couch opposite my sister. Jeb chuckled knowingly. The first time he had called me that was when Cain was still under from his surgery. I had punched him squarely in the nose, twice._

_"So what are you doing up?" Azcadelia asked._

_"I was about to ask you two the same thing." I replied._

_Everything went to hell so quickly I wasn't really sure that it had happened until it was over. In a heart beat Az had thrown me around the side of the fire place, Jeb jumping in front of us. A spray of bullets had Az diving away from me, Jeb fired back moving to keep himself between my sister and the onslaught. A Longcoat grabbed me, I screamed thrashing bout helplessly trying to break free._

_Boom._

_He fell to ground behind me._

_Boom._

_Boom._

_Boom._

_Three of the Longcoats dropped like flies. There was blood everywhere. The white marble floor of my sister's room stained a sickening crimson. And then as if by magic Cain was on top of me, shielding me. I felt his body convulse and I gave way beneath him. I grabbed his gun not thinking, leveling it at the remaining Longcoat._

_Boom._

_My anger flared, as I watched Jeb fall to the floor, leaving Azcadelia unprotected._

_Boom._

_Boom._

_My arms screamed in pain from the recoil of the pistol. It seemed to take hours for the Longcoat to fall, but fall he did with a deafening thud. I screamed for my sister, she was beside me an instant helping to turn Cain over onto his back. There was blood everywhere, a gaping whole in the middle of his chest. I felt my lungs freeze. Where his heart should be._

_"I thought I lost you once, I'm not going to live through that again!" I yelled at him, groping at the wound frantically. "You hear me!"_

_Glitch appeared in the doorway flanked by a garrison of guards. He slid through the blood, falling awkwardly beside us. I wasn't really aware of what I was doing. My hand was pressed firmly to Cain's wound, vainly trying to stop the bleeding._

_"The light DG, use the light." Glitch whispered uniting my sister's hand and mine. "You can do this…you have to be his heart, keep his blood going! Hello! I remember something…yes yes that could save him. I'll be right back!"_

_And Glitch was gone skating over the river of blood and skidding out the door out of sight._

"Cain lonely. Feels guilty. Blame himself …everything." Raw continued, bringing my spinning mind back to the present. "Glitch right DG know?"

I looked at my fury friend for a long moment, digesting his words. I wasn't sure he knew just how profound it had been, but it was enough. Enough to help me pull my courage together and go seek out my own Tin Cowboy.

It took no time at all to reach his room. The door was ajar as it always was and I rapped lightly on the door frame. My announcement seemed to echo to loudly, when there was no reply to my summon, I called out.

"Cain? Are you here?"

I poked my head through door and peered around. The room seemed completely untouched. The bed was made pristinely, not even a pillow out place. I stepped into the room confident that its occupant was out. No clothes lay about or personal effects. The only clue that the room even belonged to the Tin Man was the faint scent of leather and gun oil. I breathed in deeply taking refuge in it. I had first experienced the smell when he had dug up his belongings after we had set him free. That seemed like years ago now. A distance memory that taunted me. I hugged myself, wishing with all my being I as back in those woods swinging stupidly at imaginary bad guys.

"He's not here." A small voice washed over me and I turned to find my sister in the door way.

"Where is he?" I asked, as Az came to join me on the bed. She placed a hand on my shoulder.

"DG its…come with me." She replied brokenly, pulling me from the room. She led me through several hallways and down the grand staircase. I felt my stomach drop into my feet the farther from Cain's room we went. There was something that didn't feel right. Az stopped when we reached the gardens.

"Take my hands, Deeg." She said holding out her own. "Its time you know the truth."

I was shaking now, horrified at what I had missed. What truth I had not been privy to until now. Where was Cain? Was he ok? I took my sister's hands determidely and held my breath. In a flash we had arrived.

We stood in front of a broken down cabin, grown over with age. Az led me around the side of the cabin, and I stopped breathing entirely. Three grave stones stood tall and unaffected by the over growth. I stumbled forward, falling hard on my knees in front of them. I read each in turn, my heart breaking a little more with each one, until I reached the last and I truly thought my heart had shattered. _Here lies Wyatt Cain, loving Husband and Father, and protector of the House of Gale._

"When.." I croaked out. "What happened?"

My sister did not speak, coming to sit beside me and taking my hand in hers. I felt myself slipping backward until we both stood in the door way of Az's room.

My nightmare unfolded before me in precise movements. The gun shots, Cain throwing himself in the way of the bullet, my screaming for Az, Glitch's awkward entrance and exit, but then everything changed. I watched myself push my magic through his wound, willing him to breathe. Suddenly his eyes flickered open and he laid his hand upon mine.

"Let me go DG…." He breathed quietly. "It's ok kid…I'll be ok…you gotta let me go…"

"NO!" I screamed at him. "YOU…CAN'T…LEAVE…ME…YOU YOU…YOU PROMISED!"

It was Az that pulled my hands from his body, it was Az that sat with me while I held him close, it was Az that severed the magic allowing him to finally rest in peace. I blinked and we were back at the cabin.

"You couldn't take it…" My sister said softly. "Your mind found an excuse for his absence…and Mother and Father couldn't bare to see you in so much pain. We decided to wait until you came looking for him, it was the only way you could accept what really happened."

"But…I've…I've seen him!" I nearly yelled in defiance.

"I know." Az replied. "I've seen him too. Even in death he couldn't break his promise Deeg. He's here with you now…and now he understands what truly happened as well…Look!"

I stared in the direction she had pointed. A few feet from us my Tin Man stood, starring at the grave stones with as much disbelief as I had.

"Cain?" I questioned getting up unsteadily and staggering towards him. His gazed shifted to me, and for a moment he looked poised to run, but he didn't.

"Hey kid…" he answered,

 _Wyyyaaatttt?_ A faint voice trailed in from the unknown.

 _Father?_ Another deeper voice called.

"Go on." I choked, unable to stop the tears flooding down my face.

Still the Tin Man stood, looking as unmovable as the walls of Central City. Suddenly as if the thought had just occurred to him, he reached out and placed a hand on my shoulder. I nearly reeled at the warmth his touch caused me. A small smile played at the corner of his lips, and my heart fluttered as he pulled me into a hug.

"I'll never be far DG…" I muttered into my ear. "You believe that right?"

"Yes…" I choked out, as his presence faded from my world and I fell limp into my sister's waiting arms.


	3. A Promise Kept

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> DG coming to terms with herself, the deaths of loved ones and finding comfort in the those she still has.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer : Of course i dont own Tin Man. If I did there have been another mini series! Even if i had to make it myself! lol.  
> Song : I Believe  
> Artist: Diamond Rio

**_Every now and then  
soft as breath upon my skin  
I feel you come back again  
And it's like you haven't been  
gone a moment from my side._ **

She has sitting in this swing for hours, barely swaying back and forth with the breeze. Her sketch book lies open in her lap waiting for something to strike her fancy, her companion lounging at her feet snoozing. It has been five long years since the witch was defeated, and she has fallen into a life a routine. Breakfast at eight, lunch at noon, tea at two and dinner at six, provided there were no ball of course. She flips back a page, looking over her handy-work from the previous afternoon. Her father had been trying to teach Glitch how to fish, but when Glitch forgot every ten minutes what he was doing the Consort had eventually given up. But she had managed to capture the scene in a quick outline and finished it by memory. She frowns slightly, scrutinizing her work.

:: It looks fine Princess. Stop worrying over it. ::

**_Like the tears were never cried  
Like the hands of time are holding you and me…_ **

  
She glances down at her companion, he is snoring quietly. She looks around but there is no one to be had. Recognition sets in, and the princess hangs her head. Sometimes she really does not like the magic running through her veins. Her mind knows she should not speak, that there is no one behind her. That she is alone with her companion as she has been for years. But she can not convince her heart.

**_And with all my heart I'm sure  
we're closer than we ever were  
I don't have to hear or see  
I've got all the proof I need_ **

  
The presence behind her feels warm and safe. She withstands the need to jump up wrapping her visitor in a bone crushing hug.

"I've missed you." She whispers, holding back the tears.

:: I know. ::

She flinches, willing the tears away. She does not dare look behind her, for she knows it will break the spell like so many times before. Instead she turns back the pages of her sketch book, searching for that perfect memory.  


**_There are more than angels watching over me  
I believe  
oh I believe_ **

  
_He stands on her balcony, leaning back against the pillar of the door way, looking over the landscape. The moon light streams in and she can just make out his silhouette. Rugged boots, long leather duster, his fedora resting just over his eyes, gun gleaming in the moon light, he reminds her of the cowboys back in Kansas. She lies in her bed watching him having captured the moment perfectly. The slightest scent of leather and gun oil fills her senses, and it is to this she falls off to sleep._

**_Now when you die and life goes on  
it doesn't end here when you're gone  
Every soul is filled with light it never ends and if I'm right  
Our love can even reach across eternity_ **

  
Her mind flies to the nightmares that haunt her every night. She tries to be strong, not let him see the pain she bears. She almost feels his strong hand on her shoulder, as the most horrible moment of her life unfolds to torture her.

Her arms scream in pain from the recoil of the pistol. It seems to take hours for the Longcoat to fall, but fall he does with a deafening thud. She screams for her sister, the elder princess was beside her instantly helping to turn him over onto his back. There was blood everywhere, a gaping whole in the middle of his chest.

_"It's not fair…" she breathes, tears streaming down her face._

_He smiles unable to speak, using what strength he has left to brush the hair from her tear soaked face. He doesn't say it, because he can't._

Her breathing slows, as the present melts back into her vision; his presence still standing strong behind her. She knows he will be gone again soon, and her heart breaks all over again.

**_Oh the people who don't see the most  
Say that I believe in ghost  
And if that makes me crazy then I am_ **

  
"It should have been me…" she says. "I'm so sorry…for everything…"

:: Should have been you?:: She feels the shaking of his head. ::No Kid, it was always going to be me. ::

He gives her shoulder a squeeze, warmth flying through her like wild fire. Her arms ache with their want, their need to hold him.

:: I'll always be here, Princess. I made a promise after all. ::

She wishes to tell him, say the words both failed to utter that night; but like always she doesn't. He will have to go back to his family soon, he is only hers momentarily. She loses herself in his warmth, letting his touch seep into her skin. A small smile attains her face, taking refuge in truly believing he is there. Painfully slow his presence begins to fade, she can feel his family calling him and his want to answer, but her smile remains. She is alone again with her companion, but her smile remains.

"DG?" Glitch asks, something had woken him, and her gaze meets soft brown eyes lit with concern. "Are you alright?"

"Yes Glitch." She replies, one final tear sliding down her dimpled cheeks; as her companion takes her hands in his. "I believe I am."

**_Every now and then  
soft as breathe upon my skin  
I feel you come back again…  
and I believe…_ **


End file.
